The TEPHINET Secretariat is pleased to announce that, effective August 1, 2019, Dr. Carl Reddy will serve as the new director of TEPHINET.
“I am simply thrilled that Dr. Reddy has accepted our offer to become the new director of TEPHINET,” says Dr. Patrick O’Carroll, head of the Health Systems Strengthening Sector at The Task Force for Global Health, TEPHINET’s parent organization. “Carl has been such a wonderful friend and guide to TEPHINET over the years, and he brings so much experience, knowledge, and passion to our mission. We are truly fortunate that he will be joining us as director this summer.”
Since March 2013, Dr. Reddy has served as the director of the South African Field Epidemiology Training Program (SAFETP) housed within the National Institute of Communicable Diseases of South Africa. In June 2016, he was elected by the leadership of TEPHINET’s member programs for a three-year term as the chairman of the TEPHINET Advisory Board.
As SAFETP director over the past six years, Dr. Reddy has been instrumental to the program’s growth and quality improvement, helping it attain TEPHINET accreditation in 2018. In addition, Dr. Reddy oversaw the implementation of FETP Frontline training for SAFETP in 2016 and the establishment of a field epidemiology track at a second university, the University of the Witwatersrand (prior to his tenure, SAFETP was already a degree-granting program at the University of Pretoria).
Dr. Reddy was a participant at the June 2018 Task Force for Global Health meeting at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center to develop the Global Field Epidemiology Roadmap and its February 2019 follow-up meeting at the World Health Organization. He has served as a volunteer reviewer for TEPHINET’s accreditation program and currently serves on the steering committee for TEPHIConnect, TEPHINET’s global FETP alumni network.
Apart from his involvement with TEPHINET, he has also been a member of the AFENET (African Field Epidemiology Network) Board of Directors from November 2015-November 2017, a member of the AFENET Human Resources Subcommittee from November 2014-November 2015, and a member of the AFENET Finance and Audit Subcommittee since November 2014 (serving as the latter’s chairman from November 2015-November 2017).
Before joining SAFETP, Dr. Reddy worked as the director of the UNAIDS Technical Support Facility based at Health Development Africa in Johannesburg. Prior to that, he held technical officer positions with the Global Fund Team at UNAIDS, the Africa Unit of the Global Fund, and the Tropical Diseases Research Program of the World Health Organization in Geneva. He was also a senior scientist in the Unit for Clinical and Biomedical Tuberculosis Research of the Medical Research Council of South Africa.
Dr. Reddy completed his medical degree at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa. He also completed a Diploma in Anesthetics and the Fellowship of the College of Public Health Medicine, the South African public health specialty for medical graduates.
His epidemiological training began when he won a scholarship from the Mexican government to study Spanish and Mexican culture and conduct public health research in Mexico. This was followed by a second scholarship from the Mexican government to complete a master’s of science degree in epidemiology at the National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca.
Known among his colleagues for his love of language and culture, Dr. Reddy speaks English, Spanish, French, Afrikaans and Zulu and is particularly interested in travel, cinema, salsa dancing, pre-Hispanic Mexican civilizations, Spanish language, and reading.
The TEPHINET Secretariat looks forward to welcoming Dr. Reddy on board!